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Jo-Ann Mort

Jo-Ann Mort writes frequently about Israel and the Palestinians for The American Prospect and elsewhere, including as a regular contributor at TPM Cafe. She is the co-author of Our Hearts Invented a Place: Can Kibbutzim Survive in Today's Israel?

Recent Articles

State of the State

Jo-Ann MortSep 18, 2005

Driving on the four-lane highway past the cushy American-style Tel Aviv suburb of Ra'anana to the Jewish settlement of Ariel, there's a clear drop in the countryside from green trees to brown, rocky hilltops. This is the “Green Line,” the 1967 border. There are no checkpoints to mark contested land because the road was built explicitly for Jewish settlers who live in Ariel and the surrounding settlements to bypass neighboring Arab villages. Ariel is about 14 miles into the heart of the West Bank, surrounded by several smaller settlements, two robust, modern industrial zones (where mostly Palestinians work in the factories), and flourishing illegal outposts that were placed there to thicken the Jewish population between the Green Line and Ariel.

Off The Map

Jo-Ann MortAug 10, 2005

Road maps aren't always much help traveling to -- and through -- the West Bank, unless you can unlock the coding that will lead you in the proper direction.

Turn Left

Jo-Ann MortJul 27, 2005

On a recent afternoon in Berlin, where I went to write an article about an exhibit of Israeli art at the Martin-Gropius-Bau, Chancellor Gerhard Schröder maneuvered a vote of no confidence to try to dissolve the government. So I was curious to know what my taxi driver thought about the political situation, and we talked while riding from the Jewish Museum in Kreuzberg to the Bauhaus Museum. She pointed out to me the spot along the canal that marks where Rosa Luxemburg's murdered body was dumped, as the canal flows among fancy apartment buildings and new glassy high-rises.

Elections After Arafat

Jo-Ann MortJun 06, 2005

The world may be watching for negotiations between Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Leader Abu Mazen. But a different set of negotiations recently inside Israel could signal that the peace process is heading in a slightly different direction.

Israeli Histadrut chief Amir Peretz, who negotiated for two years with the current Israeli Labor Party Chairman Shimon Peres to bring his tiny but critical faction back into the Labor Party fold last summer, had been fighting opposition within the Labor Party's ranks so that he can run as head of the Party in primaries scheduled for June 28. Opponents were trying to deny him on technicalities, but finally, on May 31, the Labor Party Central Committee ruled in his favor.

An Unsettling Delay

Jo-Ann MortMay 23, 2005

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's decision last week to postpone the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and four remote settlements in the West Bank highlighted just how high the stakes are for Israel. But it also showed the disconnect between many who live in the settlements and Israel's political and military establishment. Believe it or not, the official word from Israel's defense establishment is that the army and the politicians were unaware of the religious significance of their timing when they made the initial announcement to begin withdrawing on July 20.

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